The Last Of Us : Working Together
by MrsPleasant13
Summary: I do not Own the Last of us. When the worst thing that could happen to them happens, Joel is forced to take care of them both. Could the duo possibly get in a worse situation? Set in the gap after pittsburgh, Spoilers inside.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

"Come on Ellie, Hurry up. We got to get away from Pittsburgh." Joel said, his normally quite stern country voice had been softened. Ellie slowly walked up to Joel meaning they were walking side by side. They were once again walking through a thick forest trying to find a way to get to the next city. They had both just lost two people they trusted, Ellie was hit harder by the events than he was. Joel knew not to get too attached to people, because the fate that met both Henry and Sam has happened too many times for him to count. Ellie on the other hand, May have lost a few people but she hadn't made as many bonds as he had over the years.

After the events of what happened they had to quickly leave the area. Joel had been suspicious that there may have been other Hunters in the area which meant that the noise generated from the apartment they had occupied may have been compromised. Knowing fine well that hunters were ruthless he grabbed Ellie and turned her away from the bodies of the people they had only met that now littered the floor...

"How you holdin' up?" Joel asked Ellie, Turning to her and looking at her bright green eyes. "Doing ok i guess... He was just a kid Joel." Ellie sighed.

"Yeah but in this world, age has no meaning. Back before all of this you would have been classed as an adult for all of the things you have seen. I know it's hard but we have to keep fighting for whatever god has blessed us with. We can't dwell on what happens when your in our situation" Joel said, looking around the forest as he always did when they were together. "I guess so bu-" Ellie was cut short by Joel's big hand raising to her face. Ellie looked at Joel and saw he was staring off into the distance.

Ellie followed his line of sight and saw what he saw.

Clickers.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Joel darted to get behind a tree and managed to crouch behind a fallen tree without much hassle. He exhaled the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding and turned around when he realised Ellie wasn't next to him. Joel spun around and his hands turned into fists as he realised that once again, She had ran offf. Looking around he couldn't see her fiery red hair...

And then he saw it.

She was going to try and shiv the clicker. Joel started to stare at Ellie, hoping his eyes would be a signal to back down before anything bad happened. But, She didn't get the hint and kept on crawling closer to the clicker. Ellie took in a deep breath before launching herself at the clicker which now screeched and thrashed now that it had something on its back. Its thin hands thrashed behind it and what Joel saw next seemed to play in slow motion for him. He watched as the clicker got lucky with it's hands and it managed to knock the knife out of her hand. The clicker seemed to notice the fact that she hadnt't moved. The clicker spun around quickly, throwing ellie off and landing onto the dusty forest floor hard. The clicker ran towards Elie and latched onto her, shaking her around violently.

"Joel!" Ellie screamed, whilst trackling the clickers jaws that threatened to grab onto her neck. Hearing her scream his name snapped him out of his fake reality and into the present, Darting forward to get to Ellie. Ellie pushed herself into the ground as much as she could but found that she was stuck. As she continued to fight the Clicker started to use his hands to try and grab any flesh it could. Ellie started to really panic as the clickers mangled mouth got even closer and then she remebered the first time she had gotten bitten with Riley. Ellie seemed to forget whast she was fighting and her strength faltered for a second, Which was enough time for the Clicker to dig its jagged teeth into her thin neck violently...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Her crimson red blood parted from her neck and sprayed itself onto the clicker abover her. The Clicker didn't seem to notice that it was being covered in her blood, But kept on trying to get further through her neck. It was so focused on it's meal, that it didn't even realise the fact that Joel was reloading his shotgun and aiming straight for the Clickers heavily mutated head.

Ellie's ears felt like they were heavily ringing as a piercing sound kept punching it's way through her thin ear drums. She then realised that her own screams we partly to blame for the fact she couldn't hear anything, and the fact that she had a zombie growling loudly in her ear. Her eyes were starting to flutter into unconsciousness as the zombie started to rip further and further into her thin neck.

Joel saw that she was starting to fall into unconsciousness, And he knew he had to act fast. Without really thinking, He pulled the trigger on the shotgun and felt his arm absorb a lot of the kickback whilst the bullet found itself between one of the clickers plates in it's head.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

The clicker slumped onto Ellie's weakened form slowly, Ellie not even making a move to remove the corpse from her. Joel started to panic. The wound looked deep, too deep. He wasn't actually certain she would be immune this time.

"Ellie!" Joel cried as he ran forward and threw the corpse to the side. Her unfocused eyes fell onto him but she looked confused. "Okay i'm gonna have to move you now. Im so sorry if this hurts but i need to get you into shelter. On three im gonna lift you up and carry you. Okay?" Joel didnt really wait for an answer as he slung his and her bags over his shoulder and ripped the medical kit wide open. He grabbed the bandages and slung them around her neck to put pressure on the wound before placing the kit back into his bag and bracing himself for what he was about to do.

"Here we go. On three. One, two. Three!" Joel shouts as he picks up her body and her loud cries scare some of the birds in the trees away. He tries to gently calm her down before he starts to walk. He knew he had to be quick. He had no idea if she would turn or not, But he sure wasn't going to leave her incase she did. She survived it once, Why on earth couldn't she do it a second time? Before he knew it he was jogging his way through the forest, Ellie staring lazily at his worried face.

It was clear to Joel that she was trying to stay awake, But it was becoming harder and harder for her to focus. He didn't want to waste anymore time, so he sped up even more. The problems with a forest is that there isn't really any houses around. Her blood began to sluggishly pour out of the bandage and onto Joels shirt, unwanted warmth making his insides go cold. She was the only person he had grown close too in these past few months and it would take a lot for him to let her die now. They had come too far. This would not be the end.

"Come on Baby girl keep your eyes on me" Joel pleaded as he looked down to see her finally giving into the sleep she so badly needed. Ellie didn't even make any attempt to prove she had heard him. This made joel panic even more. They had become stranded in his worst nightmare and there wasn't even a house or shack around!

As Joel kept running he ignored the fact that he could literally be running into a dead end before he spotted something in the distance. A hazy wooden house appeared to be further ahead. Joel would have smiled if it wasn't for the fact that ellie was dying in his arms. He finally reached the shack before setting her down on the steps, scanning the area and pulling out his gun to check the house from the inside.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Joel slowly stepped into the house, Allowing the wood to slowly groan under his weight. Joel swept his gun around what appeared to be a living room quickly, seeing nothing of any threat apart from a rugged sofa shredded across the floor in a hurry. Joel carried on through the room till he reached the kitchen. Sweeping his gun yet again around the room he found nothing.

Downstairs was clear.

Joel moved back into the musty hallway and started to move up the stairs. The stairs seemed to snake up the wall as if they had been forced to stick to the wall when everything around them fell apart. Joel made sure his back was against the wall, maximising the view of the upstairs. He made sure to balance his weight so that the stairs wouldn't groan, which would alert any enemies. As Joel was looking down the top of his shotgun he didn't see the faulty wooden step...

A loud clatter echoed as a wooden step fell to the bottom floor.

Joel froze.

A loud moan and hiss was heard from the bedroom. Joel knew that noise all too well...

A runner was in the bedroom.

Joel wasted no time in rushing up to attack the runner head on. Joel saw his target and shot him straight in the head, Silencing the zombie before it even had a chance to attack. Joel was running out of time, So he quickly sweeped the area, Deaming it safe. Joel put his gun away and threw back the covers on one of the beds left in the kids room. He made sure it was safe before leaving both of the backpacks on the ground and running down the stairs to get Ellie.

Joel finally got back outside and was greeted with the sight of Ellie's blood slowly dying the wood a deep red, Her face even paler than before. Joel put his hands under her legs and back and slowly lifted her up yet again. He noticed that her breathing seemed shallow and she was still unconcious. Joel once again had to stop the panic spreading across his body as he adjusted her so her head was against the left side of his chest, Her legs draped across his right arm. The door had shut slightly so he kicked it open with a bit more force than was probably neccesary, and started his way up the stairs slowly.

When he reached the top of the stairs he made sure that the doors downstairs were shut and made his way into the bedroom he had set up for her. He walked into the pink room that had seen better days, setting her down on the bed. Joel moved back to the door, shutting it before getting a much better look at Ellie. Her skin seemed so pale that it was almost translucent. She looked impossibly thin.

Joel braced himself for what he was about to do and witness before he moved to Ellie's side to start healing her wounds.


End file.
